


Bloody Noses, Broken Minds

by akanesgf



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Face Punching, Fluff and Angst, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-30
Updated: 2014-04-30
Packaged: 2018-01-21 08:42:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1544654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akanesgf/pseuds/akanesgf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since Tartarus, Percy and Annabeth's nightmares have only gotten worse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bloody Noses, Broken Minds

 

Almost every other night one of them would wake up screaming. Normal demigod dreams were bad enough but the nightmares were probably going to run them into the ground. It wasn't the dark bags under their eyes, or the fact that at least one of them was always awake first (even before Leo and he barely slept at all), no the thing that really sent alarm bells into the rest of the seven’s heads was their attitude.

Like the fact that Percy’s bright smiles never seemed to reach his eyes anymore, or the fact that Annabeth never jumped up yelling “Aha!” after sitting hours on end in front of the computer. Instead she just muttered darkly and shook her head. But the rest of them didn't really know what they could do to help, and they could still fight okay. So none of them brought it up.

* * *

 

Jason was the first to awake that night. Which sucked because that meant he’d have to go in and check to see if they were being attacked by monsters or not. The answer was almost always or not, instead it would be either one of them eyes staring blankly but expressions of horror stuck to their features as if they were victims of Medusa; portrayed in their last moments of abject terror but no other aspect of their lives.

* * *

 

The blonde was about to knock when he heard Percy’s voice.

"Ow! Shit!" a few stumbled footsteps could be heard along with the distinct background noise of Annabeth whimpering in terror.

Now, yes Jason probably should have opened the door to see if they were okay, but he was tired and they were most likely in the same situation they always were; one nullifying the other’s nightmares with a story or just babbling nonsense at them. It didn't really matter as long as it didn't trigger any bad memories.

* * *

 

Percy’s nose was bleeding. He had reached out to touch Annabeth too soon and got punched square in the nose. He got some tissue from her bathroom to stall the bleeding so he could finish calming her down. It took a solid ten minutes, but eventually Annabeth came out of her daze.

"Oh gods." she gently placed her fingers on his nose and he flinched away.

"Lean your head forward with the tissue while I look for some ambrosia." she started searching around her disheveled room, tossing around piles of dirty clothes as she went. Eventually she walked over to him handing him a square of ambrosia. While he he chewed it she dabbed a nectar soaked paper towel on his nose. Percy heard her sniffle a bit and looked up to meet her eyes.

A few seconds later he wrapped his arms around her and carded his fingers through her hair. "What did you see?" he mumbled softly.

"Nothing we haven’t seen before." she choked out bitterly. "How’s your nose?" He laughed.

“I’ll be fine, Annabeth. It’s not like I've never had a broken nose before.” She buried her head into his shoulder.

“I’m so sorry.” she paused and looked up at him. “We need to learn how to control this otherwise a broken nose will be the best we could hope for.” He gave her a sad smile.

“For now though let’s just go to bed.” she pecked him on the lips and settled under the sheets while he went back to his sleeping bag on the floor. And that’s how she fell asleep; listening to the calm steady rhythm of his breath, occasionally making out softly mumbled words.

* * *

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> What'd you think? This is my first time writing for this fandom (and on Ao3).Criticism is supported! Flames are welcome as well but only if they help me enhance my writing and aren't just an all-caps rant. Thanks for reading! Is the formatting awkward to read?


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